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DECEMBER 26, 20141

THE TRUMPET WEEKLY THE TRUMPET WEEKLY D E C E M B E R 2 6 , 2 0 1 4

Islamic State tests Jordan 2

Germany wants European army under its control 4

With a friend like China, who needs America? 7

Russian bear growls at Lithuania 8

The race card’s steep cost 11

BY JEREMIAH JACQUES

A R’ ruble alters and its economy groans, manyWesterners speculate that the discomort the Rus-sian people eel will become too much or them to

withstand. Many believe the sliding standard o living willbecome unbearable—that it could cause the Russians toturn against President Vladimir Putin.

Is it true that Russia’s current economic discomort ismore than its people can bear? Will this lead to the end orMr. Putin?

o answer these questions, consider the history o theRussians, which can be summarized in five words: Andthen it got worse.

Beginning in the th century, the majority o Russianslived as sers in an oppressive eudal society. Tey ekedout a living in severe climates, and weren’t allowed to ownanything or leave the estates they worked. Many were es-sentially slaves owned by a slender minority o landowners.

Can the Russians Endure the Faltering Ruble?

see RUBLE page 12

President Vladimir Putin watches

a Russian honor guard at a

military airbase in Korenovsk.

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DECEMBER 26, 20142 THE TRUMPET WEEKLY

could have been [Islamic State] fight-ers or smugglers. …

Israel Is Playing With Fire JERUSALEM POST | December 24

H’ wing, Izaddin al-Qassam, warned Israel … sayingIsrael would be the first to be burnedby its fire.

Reerring to Wednesday’s incident,[in which a sniper attack rom Gazawounded an Israeli soldier, trigger-ing Israeli tank and air strikes which

killed a Hamas militant,] the groupsaid this was a “dangerous violationand a crossing o all redlines, as wellas playing with fire.” …

“It seems that this murderous en-emy has not learned the hard lessonsit was dealt by the resistance in thepast,” Izaddin al-Qassam added. “Teenemy thinks that our people and theresistance are tired or exhausted aferthe last war.”

Another group in the Gaza Strip,

MIDDLE EAST

the Popular Resistance Movement,warned that Israel would [pay] a heavyprice or killing one o its top activists,ayseer al-Samiri. …

Iran to Start MilitaryDrills on December 25RFE/RL NEWSLINE | December 23

S I military officialssay the country’s armed orces willconduct a large-scale military exercisein the south o the country beginningDecember .

Iranian Navy commander RearAdm. Hobibollah Sayyari said theseven-day exercises are titled “Moham-med Rosulollah” (eds. Mohammed theMessenger o Allah) and will involvethe army, the navy and the air orce. …

Iranian military officials have saidthat the country’s military abilitieswill be displayed during the exercises

and that new weapons and tactics willbe tested.Army Brig. Gen. Abdolrahim

Musavi said last week that the militarydrills carry the message o “peace andriendship” and demonstrate that Iranis “opposed to the presence o oreign-ers in the region.”

Iran’s Rise SparksGulf ConcernsTHE NATIONAL | December 22

A hours ticked down to theNovember deadline to strike afinal deal with Iran over its disputednuclear program, U.S. Secretary oState John Kerry spoke with the or-eign ministers o each Arabian Gul

The Islamic State TestsJordan Defenses

WORLDTRIBUNE | December 21

T I State … has been ap-proaching Jordan. Officials saidthe Hashemite kingdom was on alertor an [Islamic State] presence alongJordan’s borders with Iraq and Syria.Tey said [the Islamic State] was try-ing to use Jordan as a waystation orfighters and weapons or the jihadcampaign in Iraq and Syria.

“Te Jordanian Armed Forces areready to repel any infiltration or at-tempts to harm security and stabil-

ity,” Jordanian military spokesmanCol. Mamdouh al-Ameri said.

In a statement on December ,al-Ameri acknowledged an [IslamicState] attempt to storm the Iraqiborder with Jordan. He said three[Islamic State] vehicles opened fireand detonated explosives against Iraqiborder orces beore withdrawing.

Officials also reported clashes withJordanian security orces along theSyrian border. Tey said the attackers

Related: “ Just What Is Iran Up To?”

Related: “ A Third Intifada in Jerusalem—

Happening Now?”

Jerusalem’s TemplesTHE KEY OF DAVID | December 26God mentions Jesus Christ’s capital city numerous times in the Bible.

He even describes the capitol building itself.GERALD FLURRY

https://www.thetrumpet.com/article/11966.32435.0.0/world/wmd/just-what-is-iran-up-tohttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/12211.33033.0.0/a-third-intifada-in-jerusalem-happening-nowhttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/12211.33033.0.0/a-third-intifada-in-jerusalem-happening-nowhttps://www.thetrumpet.com/key_of_david/1606https://www.thetrumpet.com/article/12211.33033.0.0/a-third-intifada-in-jerusalem-happening-nowhttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/12211.33033.0.0/a-third-intifada-in-jerusalem-happening-nowhttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/11966.32435.0.0/world/wmd/just-what-is-iran-up-to

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Related: “The Danger in U.S. Support of

the Gulf Cooperation Council” and

“ A Mysterious Alliance”

country to update his worried allies.Tough they had been denied even

an observer’s role in the talks, Kerrywould have tried to reassure them thatthe U.S. would seek to block everypossible path to an Iranian nuclearweapon, and that rapprochement wasnot Washington’s strategic goal. …

Te overriding concern in Gul

capitals is that the deal will do nothingto address Iran’s strategy o supportingdestabilizing orces in Arab coun-tries—either opposition political andmilitant groups in Yemen and Bahrain,

or rulers like Bashar Assad in Syria—and that riendlier relations betweenehran and Washington could evenempower Iran in the region. Te U.S.desire to shif resources and ocus toEast Asia even ueled ears that BarackObama hoped to make Iran the re-gional power in the Middle East. …

Te U.S. commitment to the mili-

tary campaign against [the IslamicState,] and its close coordination withGul allies in the fight, has addressedconcerns that the U.S. was disengag-ing rom the region. …

Still, others say the Gul-U.S. rela-tionship is slowly evolving as a resulto American policies in the regionover the past decade. Te [Gul Coop-eration Council] countries are lookingto diversiy security relationships andare acting more assertively than atany time in their histories to pursueregional interests.

I Palestinians are increasingly pessimisticabout reaching a deal or a two-state solution, a joint pollreleased Wednesday revealed.

According to the findings, ollowing the summer’s con-flict, percent o Israelis and percent o Palestinians

support a permanent settle-ment package along the Clintonparameters and the GenevaInitiative, which includes a di-

vided Jerusalem and territorialswaps or a final border agree-ment. However, these findingsrepresent a drop in support ora package deal—down rom percent among Israelis and percent o Palestinians inDecember o . …

Among Israelis, percent are worried that they or their

amily may be harmed by Arabs in their daily lie. Among

Palestinians, percent are worried that they or their am-ily could be hurt by Israel in their daily lie or that theirland would be confiscated or home demolished.

A majority o Palestinians, percent, believe Israel’slong-term goals are to extend its borders to cover all the

area between the Jordan Riverand the Mediterranean Sea andexpel its Arab citizens. In addi-tion, percent think the goalsare to annex the West Bankwhile denying political rights toPalestinians.

Similarly, percent oIsraelis believe Palestinianaspirations in the long run areto conquer the State o Israeland destroy much o the Jewish

population, while percent think the goals are to conquer

the State o Israel. …

‘Increasingly Negative About Two-State Solution’ JERUSALEM POST | December 25

“Our physical and spiritual leaders have deceived the people. ‘For they have healed the hurt of thedaughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace,peace; when there is no peace’ (Jeremiah 8:11). Ourleaders have gotten the people to accept peacepacts like the one with Judah and the Palestinians.The leaders continually talk of peace, peace, WHENTHERE IS NO PEACE.”

—Gerald Flurry, Jerusalem in Prophecy

EUROPE

EU Removes Hamas

From Terrorism List WORLD TRIBUNE | December 18

T E Union, monthsafer the war with Israel, has beenordered to remove Hamas rom theterror list.

A leading court said the EU’s deci-sion to keep Hamas on the terroristlist was not based on action. Te Euro-pean General Court said its ruling onDecember was technical rather than

an assessment o Hamas.“Te court stresses that those an-

nulments, on undamental proceduralgrounds, do not imply any substan-tive assessment o the question o theclassification o Hamas as a terroristgroup within the meaning o the com-mon position,” the general court said.

In , the EU placed Hamas,which pledged to destroy Israel, onthe terror list. But the court said thedesignation was based on media re-ports rather than “acts examined andconfirmed in decisions o competent

authorities.” …Te EU, amid its drive to support

Palestinian statehood, has two monthsto appeal the decision. Te court, ina ruling hailed by Hamas, said theEU could maintain its reeze on theIslamic movement’s assets or threemonths. …

Over the last ew years, the courtdismissed the EU’s designationo Hamas-linked charity, al-AqsaFoundation. In mid-, Hamas fired, missiles and rockets in its -daywar with Israel.

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DECEMBER 26, 20144 THE TRUMPET WEEKLY JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

G to be the “driving orce in Europe oa parliamentary controlled European army,” German-Foreign-Policy.com reported December . It cited a posi-tion paper produced by military experts in the Bundestag.Tese experts want a European Union military academy

and a permanent military headquarters.But is having Germany in the driver’s seat o a European

army cause or concern?Rainer Arnold, the Social Democratic Party’s ()

deense policy spokesman, presented the paper to theBundestag. Te authors in the paper recognize Germanyas an international power house economically, but decryits laughable oreign and military policies. Tese policies,Arnold said, are “urgently in need o improvement.”

Tese demands come as Germany is independentlybuilding bilateral and multilateral projects with otherEuropean nations, particularly their militaries. Brigadesrom national armies are joining with the Bundeswehr and

coming under the command o the German Army. “Neverbeore has a state renounced this elementary and integralpart o its sovereignty,” wrote Die Welt’s political editor,Torsten Jungholt. Dutch brigades joined the GermanArmy on June .

On October , German Deense Minister Ursula vonder Leyen signed a declaration o intent on German-Polishcooperation with Polish Deense Minister omasz Siemo-niak. Tis declaration o intent is not limited to trainingdrills but provides or “placing combat battalions under theother’s command.” Afer the agreement, von der Leyen’sministry declared the “German-Polish cooperation is a

trendsetting milestone or the development o Europeanintegrated military structures.”Hans-Peter Bartels, the chairman o the German par-

liament’s deense committee, lef no doubt as to the finaldestination o all these additions. “Te hour has come,finally, or concrete steps towards a European army,”

Bartels told Die Welt. Apart rom integrating other nations’ armies into theirs,

the Germans also want to consolidate the deense indus-try. Te German minister o the economy requested an EU

armament industry based primarily in Germany—but themain requirement is that the armament industry be inde-

pendent of the United States.Te —in conjunction with Germany’s ruling par-

ties—“want to be the driving orce in Europe o a parlia-mentary controlled European army,” and it is “pursuingthis objective relentlessly,” reported German-Foreign-Policy.com. Already we see the nucleus o a European armyemerging with the German Bundeswehr agreements withPoland and the Netherlands. Te German press stated theBundeswehr is the “trailblazer or a European army.”

Te last time Germany attempted to exert its influence

upon the world, it did not go well. Te Bible shows whatwill happen next. Key of David presenter Gerald Flurry recently spoke about a coming European power on his

“Revelation :” program. o see where Germany’saspirations or an EU army are leading, read “UnderConstruction.”

Germany Wants European Army Kiall Lorenz | December 23

“Removing the terrorist designationo Hamas is a grave mistake,” IsraeliPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahusaid. “Hamas is a ruthless terror-ist organization with a proven track

record o brutal terror attacks againstinnocent civilians.”

Germany: The Endof Tolerance?DER SPIEGEL | December 22

F M is sitting in his studyin an elegant villa in Dresden’sStriesen neighborhood on a dark

afernoon in early December. He’sthinking about Europe. … Menzel, ,is a polite, unimposing man …. Hetakes pains to come across as an intel-lectual, and avoids virulent rhetoric

like “Foreigners out!” He preers totalk about “Europe’s Western soul,”which, as he believes, includes Chris-tianity and the legacy o antiquity,but not Islam. “I see serious threatscoming our way rom outside Europe.I eel especially pessimistic about theoverpopulation o Arica and Asia,”says Menzel, looking serious. “And Ibelieve that what is unolding in Iraqand Syria at the moment is a clear har-binger o the first global civil war.”

Menzel, a media scholar, has beenrunning the Blaue Narzisse (BlueNarcissus), a conservative right-wingmagazine or high school and univer-sity students, or the last years. His

small magazine had attracted littleinterest until now. But that is about tochange, at least i Menzel has his way.

“Te uprising o the masses that wehave long yearned or is slowly gettingunderway,” he writes on his maga-zine’s website. “And this movement ismoving toward the right.”

In Dresden, at least, the sentimentsexpressed in the Blaue Narzisse havebecome more palpable in recent weeks.Protests staged each week on Mondays

German Defense Minister Ursula

von der Leyen speaks with the

Bundeswehr’s inspector general.

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initially attracted only a ew dozen to aew hundred people, but more recentlythe number o citizens taking to thestreets has reached ,. Te group,which calls itsel Patriotic EuropeansAgainst the Islamization o the West(and goes by the German acronym -), demonstrates against economic

migrants and a supposed “culturaloreign domination o our country” ….

What is going on in Germany, theworld’s second-most popular destina-tion or immigrants? Has the open-mindedness or which Germans hadlong been praised now ended? Are weseeing a return o the vague ear o be-ing overwhelmed by immigrants thatGermany experienced in the s,when a hostel or asylum seekerswas burned down? How large is thenew right-wing movement, and will

it remain limited to Dresden, or is itspreading nationwide?

So ar, protests held under the label in other cities—likeKassel and Würzburg—have attractedonly a ew hundred people at a time. …

Still, many Germans share theprotesters’ views, according to acurrent Spiegel poll. Some percento citizens agreed with the protesters that Germany is becomingincreasingly Islamicized.

Even beore the movementbegan, the number o right-wingprotests was on the rise nationwide.In the first months o this year, thereugee organization Pro Asyl and theAmadeu Antonio Foundation, whichcombats racism, counted more than demonstrations against hostels orasylum seekers. …

Various movements are comingtogether in the new wave o protests.Concerned residents are encounteringconservatives who have grown wary

o democratic values, while hooligansare joining orces with neo-Nazisand notorious right-wing conspiracytheorists. Citizens’ qualms aboutthose on the ar right are decreasing,and extremist, xenophobic ideas haveapparently become socially acceptable.

Tis conusing coexistence omovements and ideas is what makesit so difficult to deal with the sel-pro-claimed saviors o the West. Te ma-

jority o the demonstrators don’t want

to be pegged as right-wing extremists.Still, it doesn’t seem to trouble themthat, week afer week, they are dem-onstrating alongside bullnecked menwith shaved heads, as they all shouttogether: “We are the people!” a sloganadopted rom the protests in EastGermany in the autumn o that

preceded the all o the Berlin Wall. …In Dresden on December , an

anonymous speaker evenbegan his speech by quoting the wordso U.S. black civil rights leader MartinLuther King, “I have a dream.” Hetoo had a dream, the demonstrator inSaxony said, a dream o the peaceulcoexistence o all human beings andcultures. But then he arrived at whathe called the hard reality: that we arein a state o war. …

A vague eeling o being threatened

unites the demonstrators, whether theysee themselves as members o the mid-dle class, conservative nationalists orradical right-wingers. Tey yearn orisolation and simple answers, which iswhy almost-orgotten, Nazi-era termslike “volk” (the people) and “vaterland”(the atherland) are back in vogue.

Only last summer, the German flagwas a symbol o a joyous, multiculturalnation o soccer ans. Now it’s beingwaved above the heads o ol-

lowers as they crow: “Germany is awak-ening. For our atherland, or Germany,it is our country, the country o ourancestors, descendants and children.” …

Pope Rebukes Vatican Bureaucracy WALL STREET JOURNAL | December 23

P F launched his harsh-est criticism to date o the Vaticanbureaucracy, likening it to an “ailingbody,” and setting the stage or what isexpected to be sweeping reorm nextyear.

In his Christmas address on Mon-day to cardinals and senior officialsattached to the Curia, the church’sRome-based administrative apparatus,Pope Francis warned against “spiritualAlzheimer’s disease,” careerism andgossip.

Te harsh critique grabbed wide

attention, with the Religion News Ser- vice offering a headline that said, “PopeFrancis to Curia: Merry Christmas,You Power-Hungry Hypocrites.” …

In a similar vein, the address tothe curia seemed to serve notice thathe aggressively plans to take on theproblems that have developed in the

Vatican bureaucracy during the pastdecade rom infighting among cardi-nals to embarrassing leaks. …

Te pontiff’s remarks presenteda colorul -point list o “diseases”rom which the curia suffers.

He warned against a “curia that isnot sel-critical,” likening such a bodyto “the rich ool who thinks he willlive or all eternity.” Some suffer rom

“the sickness o mental and spiritualhardening: that o those who, alongthe way, lose their inner serenity, vi-

vacity and boldness,” he said. …Te pope has begun to overhaul

the curia, starting largely with thefinancial management o the body, atask that is well underway. But nextyear, he is widely expected to beginstreamlining the bureaucracy, collaps-ing some o the departments. …

France Has Never Hadso Many UnemployedTELEGRAPH | December 24

M were unemployed inFrance in November than everbeore, data showed on Wednesday,highlighting continued weak activ-ity in the eurozone’s second-largesteconomy.

Te Labor Ministry said the job-less total in mainland France rose by, to . million in November, a. percent increase over one month

and . percent over one year. Te risewas sharpest among unemployed ages or over, up percent on the year.

President François Hollande hasseen his popularity all to the lowestratings in French polling history, witha key actor being his ailure to live upto promises to tackle unemployment.

Te jobless increase in Novemberwas the third monthly gain in a rowafer a slight all in unemployment inAugust. …

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creation o the Eurasian EconomicUnion. Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan,Armenia and Kyrgyzstan agreed to aJanuary inauguration.

Te alliance will allow ree tradeamong the five nations. It will alsocoordinate the members’ financialsystems and regulate industrial and

agricultural policies. Tis alliancewill create an -like cartel overthe vast majority o energy resourcesEurope depends on. Russia will be thecontrolling nation.

Putin says the union will have acombined economic output worth .trillion, bringing together around

Russian-Led EconomicUnion Launching David Vejil | December 24

L Russia and ourother ormer Soviet states met inMoscow on uesday to finalize the

ASIA

T the week when the country’s long-estering

crisis turned virulent. A last-ditch attempt to deend theexchange rate by raising interest rates to percent ailedwithin hours, yet the shock is surely enough to set off achain o corporate ailures and push banks over the edge.

raders in the city watched open-mouthed as the dambroke on Black uesday. Te event exposed the awulreality that the Kremlin does not have the infinite oreignreserves that many had supposed. “What is happening isa nightmare that we could not even have imagined a yearago,” says the central bank’s deputy chie, Sergei Shvetsov.

Te currency has since stabilized at to the dollar. Butit has lost hal its value in a year.

Russia’s . trillion economy has shrunk to . trillion,

hal the o Caliornia. …“A Russian downgrade to junk is only a matter or time,”

says im Ash, rom Standard Bank.“Te crisis is suddenly filtering into people’s daily lives,”

says Bill Browder rom Hermitage [an investment undand asset management company specializing in Russianmarkets]. “Fify-five percent o consumer goods in Russiaare imported and these are doubling in price. People arebuying anything they can that keeps its value.”

Vedomisti reports that there is a de acto run on banks asdepositors pull what they can rom machines, earingthe guillotine at any moment. Soviet queues are appearing

again. Crowds have descended on Ikea stores, convergingin pick-up trucks to buy hard goods beore it is too late. Tecompany suspended sales o kitchens on Tursday, sayingit cannot meet demand.

Tose scrambling to buy cars may have missed theirchance. Jaguar Land Rover has halted sales to Russia. Sohas General Motors, citing “ruble volatility.” Te big threedealerships—ranstekhservice, Major Auto and Avilon—have rozen sales.

As the buying renzy subsides, the eerie stillness odepression may instead take hold. Te central bank saysthe economy could contract by . percent next year i oilprices settle at a barrel, but that was beore the rate

shock. … Rates have risen points in a week.“It’s going to be worse than the deault crisis in .

Tis time you have a situation where the West is against

them,” says Browder. “Russian companies are shut out othe global capital markets. Te country can’t turn to the because Washington will block it. Tere is no lender olast resort.”

Western sanctions are still escalating. With wicked tim-ing, President Barack Obama this week chose not to vetoa law passed by the U.S. Congress that tightens the nooseurther, even though he warned previously that it may irkEuropean leaders and erode Atlantic unity. Te law impliesresh curbs on the Russian energy sector, and may limitcredit to Gazprom. It stiffens Ukraine with million omilitary aid, a high-risk move. Te White House says Putincan reverse the process at any time by implementing the

Minsk ceasefire deal agreed three months ago. “Te aim isto sharpen the choice that he aces,” it says. …

Putin invoked the cause o Mother Russia, calling on hispeople to brace or two years o hardship, yet he is clearlyon thin ice. …

Bloomberg reports that Putin asked his key advisers ata secret meeting in February whether Russia had sufficientoreign reserves to withstand a showdown with the Westi it annexed Crimea. Tey assured him that Russia couldweather the storm. …

Putin can retaliate in other ways. “He is going to esca-late. Te huge prize or him is to test the credibility o

while Obama is still in office,” says Browder. Tat worry isshared by many, especially in the Baltic states with Russianminorities. Four fifhs o Estonia’s ortress town o Narvaare ethnic Russians, and they live within sight o the bor-der. An incident could flare up at any time.

“Te nightmare scenario is i ‘little green men’ appearin one o the Baltics, and it then invokes ’s Article [mutual deense clause],” says Ian Bond, the ormer Britishambassador to Latvia and now at the Center or EuropeanReorm. Any dispute may be murky. Yet i ever ailsto uphold an Article plea, the alliance withers. …

Eric Chaney rom warns clients to brace or a waveo deaults by “nonstrategic” companies.

Te Kremlin will prop up national champions but thisbleeds their reserves. …

The Week the Dam Broke in Russia Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, THE TELEGRAPH | December 23

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million people.Putin had planned to restore Russia’s

influence by creating a union stretchingrom Ukraine to the Pacific. He wantedthat union to rival the European Union

and regain what was lost when the Sovi-et Union broke up. But those plans wereoiled in when Ukraine decided tomove closer to the EU.

However, Ukrainian PresidentViktor Yanukovych abandoned thoseplans to draw closer to the EU aferheavy pressure rom the Kremlin.Ukrainians protested in the streetso Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, or months.Tis led to Yanukovych’s removal inFebruary, and the deeat o Putin’s

designs or Ukraine.Putin responded by annexing

Ukraine’s Black Sea Crimean Penin-sula in March. Tis ignited a civil warin eastern Ukraine that has already

claimed more than , lives.Te mood o the Eurasian Econom-

ic Union ceremony was dampenedsomewhat by Ukraine’s absence, butthe members are orging ahead.

Te Trumpet believes Putin willsucceed in returning Russia to itsormer influence.

For more inormation on where theTrumpet thinks Putin will take Russia,download our ree booklet He WasRight .

Malaysia, ChinaBegin First JointMilitary Exercise

THE DIPLOMAT | December 24

M China kicked offtheir first-ever bilateral militaryexercise on Monday.

Te joint tabletop exercise, dubbed“Peace and Friendship ,” waslaunched by the Malaysian ArmedForces and the Chinese People Libera-tion Army at the Malaysian ArmedForces Joint Warare Center.

Te exercise marks a step or-ward in the Sino-Malaysian deense

P acing economic turmoil no longer needto bow to Western demands to access loans and capitalmarkets—they can turn to China.

Recent currency-swap deals between China and eco-nomically isolated nations like Russia, Argentina and

Venezuela demonstrate how China is presenting itsel as aredemptive alternative to the West and the Western-con-trolled International Monetary Fund (). China is prov-ing to be a global economic power to be reckoned with.

On December , Chinese authorities announced theirwillingness to expand a billion, three-year currency-swap deal that China signed with Russia in October. Tedeal allows Russia to borrow the Chinese yuan as well aslend its altering ruble.

Te announcement comes as Russia endures cripplingsanctions rom Western nations over its annexation oCrimea and involvement in Ukraine. Tose sanctions havecut off Russia rom most o the world’s capital markets. Te

recent drop in oil and gas prices has exacerbated Russia’seconomic ortunes.

Russia’s ruble perormed the worst o any currency inthe world over the last six months, as Bloomberg reportedon December . Prior to the December announcement,Russia’s currency had lost percent o its value this year.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi assured over theweekend that Russia possessed “the capability and thewisdom to overcome the existing hardship in the economicsituation.” He added, “I the Russian side needs, we willprovide necessary assistance within our capacity.” As theassociate dean o the School o International Studies at Ren-

min University in Beijing, Jin Canrong, said, “[M]any Chi-nese people still view Russia as the big brother, and the twocountries are strategically important to each other.” Tat isthe primary reason China has stepped in to help Russia.

Back in May, the two nations signed the largest businesstransaction in human history—a -year, -billion gas

deal. Other billion-dollar deals ollowed, as the Trumpet documented in our articles “Te Rise o Asia” and “TeRussia-China Axis Is Here.”

China can afford such support because it is the world’slargest economy, according to the ’s latest purchasing-

power parity calculations. It has amassed . trillionworth o oreign exchange reserves—also the largest in thewhole world.

China can also afford to give such aid because o theglobal economic power that that aid can present—an op-portunity to practice “big-country diplomacy,” as PresidentXi Jingping said in November.

In other words, China can afford, and is willing, to useits economic power to augment its political clout to un-dermine and challenge the West, particularly the UnitedStates.

China has similarly helped Argentina with . billionworth o currency-swap deals since October. Te South

American nation has been internationally isolated or re-neging on its financial obligations in , and it has oundChina an alternative to the . Economically sanctionedVenezuela has enjoyed billion o credit rom China sinceNovember.

China, obviously, is not in the charity business. In ex-change or its assistance, it receives vital natural resourcesto eed its economy. By helping Russia and Venezuela,China gains cheap natural gas and crude oil.

But more significantly, helping pariah nations givesChina critical alliances that will ultimately underminethe U.S. and even challenge what the Bible calls the “king

o the north.” For more inormation about where thesedevelopments are leading, read our January Trumpet magazine article “Te Russia-China Axis Is Here.”

With a Friend Like China, Who Needs the IMF? Anthony Chibarirwe | December 26

Related: “Asia Stands With Putin”

https://www.thetrumpet.com/literature/2313/he-was-righthttps://www.thetrumpet.com/literature/2313/he-was-righthttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/12244.33176.170.0/asia/china/the-russia-china-axis-is-herehttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/11533.32384.164.0/asia/asia-stands-with-putin?previewhttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/11533.32384.164.0/asia/asia-stands-with-putin?previewhttps://www.thetrumpet.com/article/12244.33176.170.0/asia/china/the-russia-china-axis-is-herehttps://www.thetrumpet.com/literature/2313/he-was-righthttps://www.thetrumpet.com/literature/2313/he-was-right

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relationship. Although both countrieshad signed a memorandum o under-standing (MoU) on deense coop-eration in , initial efforts tendedto be ocused on exchanges andeducation. ies have moved orwardincrementally over the past ew years,however. For instance, in September

, the two deense ministries heldtheir first-ever ormal deense and se-curity consultation. And in June ,Chinese company Aerospace LongMarch International signed an MoUwith Malaysian firm Aneka Bekal tooffer a sel-propelled surace-to-airmissile system.

When Malaysian Prime Minis-ter Najib Razak last met ChinesePresident Xi Jinping on November on the sidelines o the Asia PacificEconomic Leaders meeting in Beijing,

Xi had said that both countries shouldboost cooperation in areas includ-ing enhancing collaboration betweentheir two armies and working togetheron law enorcement and saety. Tisexercise will no doubt be a step in thatdirection.

Te exercise is also being publicizedas yet another boost or Sino-Malaysianrelations … .

Russian-Indian JointMilitary ProjectsSPUTNIK NEWS | December 19

R provide India withits most advanced weapons andtechnologies in order to renew Delhi’saging military hardware; since thecountries have launched joint militaryprojects, India has obtained new op-portunities on the weapons market.

“Russia wants early inking o the

final [research and development]contract or the joint fifh-generationfighter () project, in which Indiawill invest . billion to developa stealth fighter. India will spendaround billion on such fighters,to be built domestically, in the project,” the Times of India reported.

India will also assemble Rus-sian Ka- helicopters a year. Tedeal is important to India, since thecountry needs to upgrade its aging

military hardware.“I am pleased that Russia has o-

ered to ully manuacture in Indiaone o its most advanced helicopters.It includes the possibility o exportsrom India. It can be used or bothmilitary and civilian use. We will ol-low up on this quickly,” Indian Prime

Minister Narendra Modi said in an o-ficial statement as quoted by DeenseNews.

Russia is also ready to provide Indiawith its Akula- class nuclear-pow-ered submarines, which will bolsterIndia’s capability to maintain controlover its territorial waters in the IndianOcean amid growing geopolitical ten-sions in the region. …

It should be noted that India hasalways been one o Russia’s biggestdeense customers. Te Times of India

points out that Russian-Indian armsdeals included “refit o aircraf carrierAdmiral Gorshkov or Vikrama-ditya (. billion), alwar-classstealth rigates (almost billion)

… Sukhois (project cost over billion), MiG-Ks ( billion), Mi- Vs helicopters (over billion).”

“Russia will remain our mostimportant deense partner,” PrimeMinister Narendra Modi underscoredduring his meeting with Vladimir

Putin earlier this month, pledging todeepen the deense cooperation.

Russia Growls AcrossBorder at LithuaniaREUTERS | December 21

G Lithuaniansat this rozen Russian border post,where a return trip by car can mean hours o queuing. It is a reminder or

some o why the ormer Soviet repub-lic wil l cement its move to the West by

joining the eurozone next month.ensions with Moscow have sim-

mered ever since Lithuania becamethe first republic to declare indepen-dence rom the Soviet Union in ,although only percent o the popula-tion are Russian speakers, ar ewerthan in its Baltic neighbors.

On January , it will be the last othe Baltic states to join the currency

bloc, hoping like Estonia and Latviaor more investment and lower bor-rowing costs to spur one o Europe’spoorest but astest-growing economies.

All three have elt the blowbackrom East-West tension over Rus-sia’s encroachment into Ukraine thisyear in the orm o Russian sanctions

and military grandstanding on theirborders. …

Te move to the euro coincideswith steps towards greater energyindependence and requests or more troops in Lithuania, marking anew shif away rom Moscow. But halthose polled in this state o milliondo not welcome the euro.

“It is all a horror movie,” elderlyLaima Krecikiene said outside asupermarket by the border. “Don’tyou understand? Can you imagine

how little money people in the villageshave? Just look at the prices, they shotup in anticipation o the euro.”

Market reorms and wider eco-nomic crisis have been tough orLithuanians, driving many to emi-grate. But ew oppose its shif towardsthe West. …

Ukraine Ends ‘Nonaligned’ Status WALL STREET JOURNAL | December 23

U its status as anonaligned nation on uesday, re-opening aspirations to join anddrawing a quick rebuke rom Moscow,which has accused the West o bring-ing hostile orces to its borders.

Tough largely symbolic, the movehighlights the depths o differencesbetween Kiev and Moscow, which haslong thought o Ukraine as its satellite

and buffer against the West.Ukraine had pursued mem-

bership when a pro-Western govern-ment was elected years ago, butdeclared itsel as nonaligned underthe recently ousted pro-Russia presi-dent, Viktor Yanukovych, afer he waselected in .

Ukraine’s chances o joining anytime soon are practically nil, how-ever, as members in Europe especiallyhave little stomach or a conrontation

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with Russia. On uesday, RussianForeign Minister Sergei Lavrovcondemned the move, which he saidwould make a resolution o the crisisin Ukraine more difficult. …

Ukraine’s move comes as inter-national diplomatic efforts to restartthe peace talks between Kiev and

separatists appear to be making someprogress, with discussions in Minskexpected as early as Wednesday. Atentative ceasefire announced ineastern Ukraine appears to be holding,with the number o shootings and ca-sualties down significantly, Ukrainianofficials say. …

world’s most advanced air deense sys-tem. Military spending will increaseanother percent to reach a recordhigh o billion. In the year ahead,the Nuclear Forces will receive intercontinental ballistic missiles, new aircraf, a new Admiral Grigoro-

vich-class rigate, new super-silent

improved Kilo-class diesel-electricsubmarines and a handul o smallProject missile corvettes. Rus-sia announced that it plans to reach percent rearmament by the end onext year as it is currently engaged inits largest military buildup since thecollapse o the Soviet Union.

TW I N B R I E F

n Russia’s military buildupRussia’s military modernization plan,initiated in , is now percentcomplete, according to December reports by Ria Novosti. Tis year alone,Russian orces acquired interconti-nental ballistic missiles, submarine-

based ballistic missiles, nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, jets, modernized interceptors, fighter-bombers, transport jets, helicopter gunships, and air deensemissile systems. Tey also addedthree new S- antiaircraf missilesystems, which some analysts call the

LATIN AMERICA/AFRICA

‘Russia-Backed’ WarRages in DarfurFRANCE 24 | December 14

V Darur’s protracted warhave been beaten, raped and killedas UN peacekeepers looked on, a or-mer spokesperson or the UN missiontells France . She says Russia andChina have orced the world body to

turn a blind eye to the conflict. …More than a decade afer Arabsand non-Arabs began massacringeach other in the arid Sudanese regiono Darur, the brutal conflict rageson. President Omar al-Bashir is stillwanted at the International CriminalCourt or genocide and war-crimescharges, more than ive years aterhe was indicted. In alone, some, people have been displaced.But ater seven years on the ground

and almost $ billion in spending, theUN has ailed in its mission to protectcivilians and is now thinking o pull-ing its ,-strong peacekeepingorce out o the region.

[Aïcha] El Basri, who spent eightmonths stationed with the UN-Arican Union blue helmet mission,describes Darur as the UN’s “biggestpeacekeeping ailure.” …

“I you want to know what Syriawill look like in several years, start by

looking at Darur.”

Africa Must SaveLibya to Fight TerrorMAIL & GUARDIAN | December 23

A hasn’t orgivenFrance, Britain and the UnitedStates or its military interventionin Libya in and the way ormer

strongman Muammar Qadhafi was“assassinated.”

In act, Arican participants at ahigh-level meeting on Arican securityin Dakar, Senegal, last week—includ-ing heads o state—blame the intervention against Qadhafi or thecurrent chaotic situation in Libya.Tis has created a vast ungovernedzone in the southern Libyan desertand a sae haven or terrorists wherethey can regroup, get sophisticated

weapons and equipment, and launchattacks across the Sahel.High-ranking officials and military

experts … concur that to fight thescourge o terrorism in Arica, which

“spreads like wildfire across the conti-nent” it is imperative to solve the crisisin Libya. …

Tere are increasing signs o co-operation between the Sahel Islamicterror groups, Boko Haram in northernNigeria and al-Shabaab in Somalia ….

ANGLO-AMERICA

NASA Is Lost in Space WALL STREET JOURNAL | December 22

A a century ago Ameri-cans set oot on the moon—onlyeight years afer the Apollo spaceexploration program began. oday

the U.S. has to pay the Russians or aride to the international space station,which orbits a mere miles aboveEarth. Te price tag? Up to mil-lion a seat. While other countries haveset objectives or their explorationprograms—China plans to get people

to the moon in the s—the Nation-al Aeronautics and Space Administra-tion is lost in space. …

has an important role to playin advancing our nation’s interests inspace, but it needs reorm. …

Out-o-this-world spending

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wouldn’t be necessary. Funding or theInternational Space Station and SpaceLaunch System alone already totalsmore than billion annually, similarto what the Apollo program spentevery year on average. Tat moneywould be better used by working onclear, stated goals. Such steps are the

only way to reestablish the Americanspace program that was once the won-der o the world.

Islamic StateRecruiting FergusonCriminalsBREITBART | December 24

T I State has been activelyrecruiting Ferguson criminals, ac-cording to the U.S. Attorney or theSouthern District o Illinois. …

U.S. Attorney Steve Wigginton told that the ederal government hasreceived “intelligence reports or lawenorcement showing actual tweets[the Islamic State] was putting outencouraging Americans to join thepeople who were burning down build-ings in Ferguson to engage that kindo conduct across America.”

special agent Sean Cox told the

outlet, “We are very concerned bythreats posed by homegrown violentextremists rom individuals who livein the same community they intend toattack.”

“Tese individuals are difficultor us to detect, as they are able toconnect with other extremists with

relative ease, and they are more ca-pable rom an operational standpointbecause they are amiliar with theirintended target areas,” he added. …

Less Than Half Live ina ‘Traditional’ Family PEW RESEARCH CENTER | December 22

L hal ( percent) o U.S.kids younger than years o ageare living in a home with two mar-ried heterosexual parents in their firstmarriage. Tis is a marked changerom , when percent o chil-dren fit this description, and ,when percent did, according to aPew Research Center analysis o re-cently-released American CommunitySurvey and Decennial Census data.

Rapid changes in American am-ily structure have altered the imageo who’s gathering or the holidays.

While the old “ideal” involved couplesmarrying young, then starting a am-ily, and staying married till “deathdo they part,” the amily has becomemore complex, and less “traditional.”

Americans are delaying marriage,and more may be oregoing the insti-tution altogether. At the same time,

the share o children born outside omarriage now stands at percent, uprom just percent in . …

One o the largest shifs in amilystructure is this: percent o childrentoday are living with an unmarriedparent—up rom just percent in, and percent in . In mostcases, these unmarried parents aresingle. However, a small share o allchildren— percent—are living withtwo cohabiting parents, according to data. …

More PrivateContractors to Iraq

AL JAZEERA | December 24

T U.S. government is preparingto boost the number o privatecontractors in Iraq as part o Presi-dent Barack Obama’s growing effortto beat back Islamic State militants

B’ is more ragile than previouslythought, official data showed on uesday, as statisti-cians revised down growth or most o last year andrevealed that the UK’s current account deficit is now at its

joint-widest on record.

Sterling dropped against the dollar on uesday afer newfigures showed growth was less robust between the secondquarter o and second quarter o than previouslythought.

Weaker manuacturing growth, a smaller-than-expectedsurplus in services exports, and weaker government con-sumption over the period were behind the downgrades, theOffice or National Statistics () said.

While the lef its final estimate o third quarter growth unchanged at . percent, the year-on-year figureell rom percent to . percent due to downward revi-sions to growth in each o the five previous quarters.

Meanwhile, the UK’s current account deficit, which

measures trade as well as overseas income and transers tobodies such as the European Union, widened to billion

( billion) in the third quarter, or around percent o. Tis is the biggest deficit in cash terms since recordsbegan in , and matches the record deficit seen in thethird quarter o as a proportion o . …

Te data revealed that income rom the UK’s oreign

investments dropped between July and September, exac-erbated by an increase in cash flowing out o the UK tooreign investors. …

Joe Grice, the ’s chie economist, described Britain’swidening current account deficit as “something to watch.”“It’s clearly an important development. Some o these tradeand balance o payment issues have allen out o ashionover the past decade or two. But things seem to be happen-ing there,” he said.

Nick Kern, chie economist at the British Chambers oCommerce, warned that the current account deficit hadreached an “unsustainably high level,” while Stephen Lewis,chie economist at Investment Services, said sterling

would be vulnerable i oreign investors suddenly lost aithin Britain’s ability to pay its way in the world. …

Pound Drops: ‘Unsustainable’ Current Account DeficitTELEGRAPH | December 23

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threatening the Baghdad government,

a senior U.S. official said. …Te preparations to increase the

number o contractors—who canbe responsible or everything romsecurity to vehicle repair and oodservice—seemingly underscoresthe Obama administration’s grow-ing commitment in Iraq. When U.S.troops and diplomats venture into warzones, contractors tend to ollow, do-ing jobs once handled by the military.

Afer the Islamic State … seized

large swaths o Iraqi territory and the

major city o Mosul in June, Obamaordered U.S. troops back to Iraq. Lastmonth, he authorized roughly dou-bling the number o troops, who willbe in noncombat roles, to ,, but iskeen not to let the troop commitmentgrow too much.

How many contractors will deployto Iraq—beyond the roughly ,now working there or the U.S. StateDepartment—will depend in part,the official said according to Reuters,

on how widely dispersed U.S. troops

advising Iraqi security orces are, andhow ar they are rom U.S. diplomaticacilities.

“It is certain that there will haveto be some number o contractorsbrought in or additional support,”said the senior U.S. official, speakingon condition o anonymity.

Tere are now about , U.S.troops in Iraq, and U.S. Deense Sec-retary Chuck Hagel last week ordereddeployment o an additional ,. …

T - murder o two New York City police-men as they sat in their car is not only an outrage butalso a wake-up call. It shows, in the most painul way, thehigh cost o having demagogues, politicians, mobs and themedia constantly taking cheap shots at the police.

Tose cheap shots are in act very expensive shots, notonly to the police themselves but to the whole society.Someone once said that civilization is a thin crust over a

volcano. Te police are part o that thin crust. We haveseen beore our own eyes, first in Ferguson, Missouri, andthen in other communities, what happens when there is

just a small crack in thatcrust, and barbarism andarson burst out.

Tat can happen any-where. So can what hap-pened in New York. …

It is a painul irony that,

on the eve o the murderso these two police officersin New York, some o thecity’s police were alreadysaying that, in the event o their deaths, they did not wantMayor Bill de Blasio to attend their unerals. … No politi-cian in the country has done more to play the race cardagainst the police and spread the notion that cops are thebig problem in minority communities.

It so happens that the police officers killed were bothmembers o minority groups—Officer Raael Ramos,Hispanic, and Officer Wenjian Liu, Asian. It so happens

that a substantial part o the New York City police orce aremembers o minority groups.But you might never know that rom the story told by

demagogues who depict the black community as a “colo-nial” society being “occupied” by white policemen whotarget young blacks. Mayor de Blasio joined the chorus othose saying that they have to warn their black sons how tocope with this situation.

“What can we say to our sons?” some demagoguesask. Tey can say, “Don’t go around punching strangers,

because it is only a matter o time beore you punch thewrong stranger.”

Mayor de Blasio has made anti-police comments withAl Sharpton seated at his side. Tis is the same Al Sharp-ton with a trail o slime going back more than a quartero a century, during which he has whipped up mobs andomented race hatred rom the days o the awana Brawley“rape” hoax o to the Duke University “rape” hoax o

and the Ferguson riots o .Make no mistake about it. Tere is political mileage to

be made siding with demagogues like Al Sharpton who, asdemagogue-in-chie, has been invited to the White Housedozens o times by its commander in chie.

Many in the media and among the intelligentsia cherishthe romantic tale o an “us”against “them” struggle obeleaguered ghetto blacksdeending themselvesagainst the aggression owhite policemen. Te gull-ible include both whites

who don’t know what theyare talking about and blackswho don’t know what theyare talking about either, be-

cause they never grew up in a ghetto. Among the latter arethe president o the United States and his attorney general.

Such people readily buy the story that ghetto socialproblems today—rom children being raised without a a-ther to runaway rates o murder—are “a legacy o slavery,”even though such social problems were nowhere near assevere in the first hal o the th century as they becamein the second hal.

You would be hard pressed to name just five examplesrom the first hal o the th century o the kinds o ghettoriots that have raged in more than a hundred cities duringthe second hal. Such riots are a legacy o the social degen-eracy o our times.

Calling this social degeneracy “a legacy o slavery” is not just an excuse or those who engage in it, it is an excuse orthe ideology o the intelligentsia behind the social policiesthat promoted this degeneracy. …

Te race card is nothing to play with. It can ruin us all.

The Race Card’s Steep CostThomas Sowell, THE NATIONAL REVIEW | December 23

“Poisonous race relations have everything to do with Bibleprophecy …. This dangerous buildup within our society is aracist bomb that most of us will see explode in our faces!Many people believe that Mr. Obama is going to greatlyimprove race relations. But our racial problems are going

to rapidly get much worse! … The race card is going to beplayed often for political gain!” —Gerald Flurry, theTrumpet.com, July 21, 2008

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DECEMBER 26 201412THE TRUMPET WEEKLY

Afer Alexander abolished serdom in , lie or theaverage Russian took a turn … or the worse.

While sers hadn’t owned land, most had only neededto meet a certain quota and could then keep the remainingcrop yields or themselves. Afer serdom was abolished,though, they became wage laborers. Everything they grewor produced belonged to the property owner. Since the

wage laborers were ofen earning just a ew kopecks a day,it was barely possible or them to buy the ood they hadgrown with the wages they’d been given to grow it.

Alexander had abolished serdom because he wantedto assuage the Russian masses and prevent a revolution.But the circumstances created by that abolition ended upincreasing revolutionary pressure. By , the pressurehad exploded into a revolution against Czar Nicholas .However, because o infighting among the revolutionaries,it only ended up strengthening the czar’s power. Te Rus-sian nights grew longer and colder.

Ten World War broke out, and the Russian Army,large but poorly armed, took the offensive against the

German-led axis. Russian soldiers were ofen sent to theront lines unarmed and instructed to fight with whateverweapons they could find on the battlefield. Russia lost morepeople in the Great War than any other nation, yet itsstrong-willed troops managed to tie down great numberso enemy troops.

While the Russian soldiers loyal to the czar were fightingat the ront, whispers o revolution in the capital grew intocries o upheaval. Te people had had enough o Russia’sgross social inequality, discouraging war losses, rampantstarvation, and scandals surrounding the monarchy. In ,revolutionaries toppled the czarist system. But the over-

throw didn’t result in a power-to-the-people ending as ithad in the French and other revolutions. Instead, afer fiveyears o savage civil war, the Soviets took power.

Russia entered a chapter bleaker perhaps than any it hadknown beore.

Joseph Stalin and other leaders orchestrated what issometimes called “the other holocaust o the th cen-tury”—the imprisonment, debasement and murder o tenso millions by their own government.

In the midst o this dark Soviet chapter came an evendarker inset: World War .

Russian losses in this largest war ever ought are perhapsbest summarized with one tragic statistic: percent o all

Soviet males born in were dead by the end o WorldWar .

Again, the Russians did not have enough weapons orall o its soldiers. Many units had only one rifle or every men. Te unarmed men would trail each armed soldier,wait or him to be shot down, and then grab his gun andkeep fighting. Russian soldiers were also known to some-times clear minefields by marching over them. Upon wit-nessing these tactics, one German soldier reportedly saidhe was convinced that the tough-as-nails Russians wouldwin the war.

Te Soviet Union’s total number o war dead or World

War exceeded million—again more than than thelosses or any other nation.

Once the war ended, Soviet rulers returned to inflictingthe “other holocaust” on the people o the . HistorianI. G. Dyadkin estimated that to million people died

“unnatural deaths” rom to .Ten, the Soviet Union endured several decades o the

Era o Stagnation, as it languished under the communist

yoke and the ice o the Cold War.Revolution broke out again in , leading to the dis-

solution o the Soviet Union. Ten things got worse.In the decade ollowing the ’s collapse, rates o

poverty and economic inequality skyrocketed. Between and percent o the population were earning less than per month. Russia’s deep depression was more severe thanthe Great Depression o the United States. Russia’s financial crisis urther exacerbated the difficulties.

Russians’ StrengthTe combination o alling oil prices and sanctions theWest slapped on Russia or its aggression against Ukraine

means the ruble has taken a serious hit. It means Russiansare suffering. But Russian history shows that its people areno strangers to terrible suffering. Prosperous times havebeen the exception or most o them, and suffering thenorm.

Afer a recent trip to Moscow, Strator’s George Freid-man said, “Tere is always the expectation that prosperitywill end and the normal constrictions o Russian povertyreturn. … Russians’ strength is that they can endure thingsthat would break other nations.”

One o the ew times that Russia has seen a departurerom the typical “and then it got worse” historical pattern

was afer Mr. Putin became the country’s leader.From to , the Russia’s nominal gross domesticproduct increased sixold. Under Putin, or the first timein their lives, many Russians owned cars and vacationedabroad. Russians are fiercely loyal to Putin because o allthis, and instead o viewing him as the cause o the currenttroubles, they continue to view him as the solution. An As-sociated Press poll rom December ound that a stagger-ing percent o Russians still support him.

Tis soaring popularity is in part because Putin has convinced Russians to view their setbacks as noble sacrificesmade in the name o the war effort. One Moscow resident,who spoke with the Trumpet on December said that,

although Russians are suffering, “Te current mood is ‘It’llbe un and scary!’”

People in such a “mood” sacrifice willingly, enduretough times bravely, and are sometimes even willing tomarch through minefields to clear them out or their com-rades ollowing behind.

Te Westerners who think the current discomort willbe too much or Russians have made a mistake: Tey haveassumed that the Russian capacity to endure suffering andsacrifice in the name o the nation is roughly equal to thato the average Westerner. In act, it is ar greater.

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